5 Crucial Checks to Make Before Selling Your Old Phone

When it ’s meter to upgrade your earphone , you may considerably cut down on the price of a fresh handset by either trading in or sell your old one . Before you part room with your old smartphone , though , you postulate to run through some fast and simple-minded checks to ensure you ’re take all of your information with you and not leaving your digital accounts expose .

Ideally , you require to run your sure-enough and newfangled phones alongside each other for a few day until you ’re sure that everything is run smoothly on your latest handset and you do n’t need the one that ’s just been replaced any more . But irrespective of your place , run through these arrest and you should be somewhat well covered .

1. Back up everything

No one wants to drop off any data while switching phones , but the switch to cyclosis services intend this is easier to avoid now . Sign back into Netflix and Spotify ( for example ) on your raw gimmick and everything will be there , exactly as you leave it .

It ’s worth going through your key apps to make indisputable everything is bet on up to the swarm or a dissimilar equipment . In particular , reckon about your precious photos and video ( Apple Photos , Google picture or services like Dropbox can take guardianship of these ) . If you employ a podcast player , check over that you wo n’t recede your place or your download episodes .

iPhones and Android phones come with built - in backup Service that take care of a lot of this for you : Check out the officialAppleandGooglesupport documents for full item , but also do your own audit on what ’s on your phone and what needs transferring .

Run a few checks before abandoning your old phone.

Run a few checks before abandoning your old phone.Photo:Jonas Leupe/Unsplash

2. Move your two-factor authentication codes

Using your smartphone as a two - broker authentication machine is a smart idea — it means other people ca n’t get into your accounts with just your usernames and password . However , this extra security measure can cause progeny when you ’re swap gadget .

Essentially , your sound might well now be the Francis Scott Key for getting into all sort of account , from your societal medium apps to your e-mail node . If you use an app to generate two - factor codes , then you require to get this app set up on your newfangled phone to make certain you could carry on get into your accounts as normal .

How this works will vary slightly count on your two - factor authentication app , so look into the app for details . Apps such asAuthyandGoogle Authenticatoroffer straightforward scout for bring forth your codes transfer across .

Backing up an Android phone via Google One.

Backing up an Android phone via Google One.Screenshot: Android

3. Sign out of your accounts

This is n’t rigorously necessary on certain apps , but it ’s a just idea to ratify out of and inactivate as many apps as you’re able to before leaving your erstwhile phone behind , so as to ease the transition over to your next machine .

sealed apps have restriction on how many devices you could use them with — medicine streaming apps that only let you download tracks to a limited numeral of gadgets , for instance . Meanwhile , some paid - for apps put limit on how many time they can be installed , so you need to cancel your old installation before add a new one .

Before you sign out from everywhere , ensure you know all your passwords — you’re going to need them to sign up back in again . Hopefully , this is a line of work that you ’ve given to a dedicated password coach , so the transitionshould be a smooth one .

Check your two-factor app for export and import options.

Check your two-factor app for export and import options.Screenshot: Google Authenticator

4. Transfer your chats

We ’ve mention backing up , but it ’s deserving talking about chat apps separately : your private conversations are likely to be staggeringly important to you , and you do n’t want to leave them behind when you move on to a make new smartphone .

Apps like Twitter and Facebook Messenger and Google Chat keep everything in the swarm . With Apple iMessage , your chats are backed up and synced to multiple devicesvia iCloud . If you ’re a Signal substance abuser and you have both your new and old earpiece available , you could use the build - inaccount transferral feature .

The process varies from app to app , but ensure you ’re using the most up - to - date information — WhatsApp is one app where the process keeps evolve , but there is now a comprehensive chatbackup and restore featureavailable .

It’s a good idea to sign out of apps before resetting.

It’s a good idea to sign out of apps before resetting.Screenshot: Netflix

5. Run a factory reset

Last and by no means least , you should run a factory reset to put your old smartphone back to the state it was in when you first got it — but only after you ’ve train off everything that we ’ve advert in the list above .

This entail no one else will be able to get into your story or access your data , because all of your filing cabinet and apps and logins will get wiped : Everything from the details of the WLAN internet you ’ve got set up at base , to the browsing history on your equipment , to the wallpapers you ’ve downloaded , is delete from the local reposition .

On Android , from options pick System , Reset selection and Erase all data ( factory reset)—that ’s for Pixels , but other Android devices will have similar choice . From iOS scene , choice General , transport or Reset iPhone , and Erase All Content and configurations .

Don’t neglect your chat backups.